A Look Back In Time - 1st February 2008
Something new and exciting has happened in and around the Birmingham area for all darts enthusiasts and it comes in the form of a brand new “Darts Forum” for which the web site is www.double16.com
On the site is the “Birmingham Scene” which is promoting not only as the name suggests Birmingham but also the Black Country, all local county information including Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. In addition there are items of local darts news plus updates on any competitions being staged throughout the area. Also on the Forum are Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, with all their latest news and views. Believe me it is well worth a visit and definitely one to save in your “Favourites”.
West Midlands go into 2008 placed third in the promotion table of division two of the Kaliber BDO Inter Counties Championships. Two wins and two draws in the opening four fixtures have put them seven points off leaders Nottinghamshire and only two adrift of second placed Derbyshire. However, with five games remaining they will be looking for not only more wins but also bigger wins in a bid to close the gap on the two teams above them. Both of the men’s teams have chalked up two wins and two draws so far, but there is real room for improvement with the ladies as the ‘A’ side have won one, drawn two and lost one, while the ‘B’ have won one, drawn one and lost two.
So there are plenty of points left to play for and all our hopes go with the West Midlands to get enough of them to earn them a return to division one next season.
Tamworth Winning Post go into the new year as leaders of the Warwickshire Men’s Super League. With 111 points Tamworth have an advantage of five points over nearest rivals Leamington. However, Leamington have only played fourteen games, one fewer than Tamworth and a win in that game would see them take over the number one spot. The Cherry Tree’s are battling it out for third place as both Bedworth Cherry Tree and Coventry Cherry Tree have both played fifteen fixtures and are both locked together on 96 points.
The Brook Meadow Individual Double Top League have got their new season underway and the early pacesetters are Gordon Clinton and Jason Evans who both got 10 points from their opening two fixtures. Clinton kicked off with a 3-0 win over Dean McCauley and followed that with another straight legs win against John Masefield, Evans meanwhile, had similar 3-0 wins in his games against John Masefield and Jake Smith. In his game with Smith, Evans hit two maximums.
Reigning champion Trevor Frost had a winning start in his defence of the title beating newcomer Tony Commerford 2-1 and then Scott Austin 3-0.
The Small Heath League were busy with their Christmas Darts Cricket Knockout Competition over the festive period. Taking the honours were “Nigel Nuts”, a team consisting of John McCaffrey, Nigel Ricketts (Potcheen Still), Peter Yardley (Emerald Club) and Rob McConnell from the Mitre. Runners up were “The Villens” team of Eddie Hackett, John Frost (Mitre), Neil Parsonage (Emerald Club) and Paul Wilding (Victoria Flights). Beaten semi finalists were “Charlie’s Angels” (Danny Mooney snr, Kevin Mills, The Victoria, Bob Cornish, Brendan Lysaght, Mitre), and “Young One’s” (Daniel Robinson, Wagon and Horses, Ian McClean, Custard House, John Franklin, Emerald Club, Tony Owens, Victoria Flights).
The Pip Club League rounded off their season when division one teams Globe Inn and Dolphin played off their outstanding fixture. The result was a convincing 7-1 win for Dolphin to give them the runners up spot, two points behind champions Glascote Club. Queens Head finished with the same 18 points as Dolphin but lost out on the second place by having just one leg fewer than Dolphin.
The division two title went to Wiggy 180 who finished with a total of 20 points, four more than runners up Boot Inn (Grendon).
February will see knockouts taking place throughout our area. First Stirchley United WMC is the setting for the forthcoming South Birmingham Open Darts Championship sponsored by Coors Brewery. The event will be staged at the club in Hazelwell Lane, Stirchley on Saturday 9th February with all entry fee’s paid out as prize money.
Entry will be restricted to the first 128 players and will cost £5 or alternatively £6 on the day. Entries together with the entry fee should be sent to Dennis Stokes, Flat 2, 106 Park Hill, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8DS, with cheques made payable to “Stirchley United WMC”. All cheques must be received by Saturday 26th January.
Anyone requiring any further information should contact either the club on 0121-458-3383 or Dennis Stokes on 07923-813717.
The second annual John Westwood Memorial Knockout will be staged at the Nags Head, Brierley Hill on Saturday 16th February. Entry to the event will be £5.00 per player and the number of entries will determine the prize money. For all further enquiries contact either S.Breeze on 07790-929283 or J.Pearson on 07732-546824.
Also on the same day is the Wolverhampton Darts Open at the Wolverhampton Sports Arena, Unit 1, Racecourse Road, Wolverhampton, WV6 0QU.
Advance entry to the knockout will cost £8.00, while entry on the day is £10.00. All cheques and entries should be sent to Paul Walters, 26 Wesley Road, Bilbrook, Wolverhampton, WV8 1LD. There will be a £500 payout to the eventual winner with the runner up collecting £200. Losing semi finalists £100 and quarter finalists £25.
Paul Walters is also the man to contact for any further information and he can be reached on 07814-665509.
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